Into the Dragon's Den
by Evangeline Carter
Summary: With a mysterious disease wreaking havoc among the dragon population there is little hope for a cure. Primrose – or as she prefers, Rosie, has been called in by the Romanian Ministry to try and make sense of it all. Charlie Weasley has been losing some of his most prized dragons, they're dropping like flies! The Ministry honestly thinks some little girl can help? CWxOC
1. An Unexpected Journey

Sprawling mountain ranges and pine trees that dwarfed even the largest ogres. Gazing up at the blue sky and appreciating the smell of damp wood and pine, Rosie could only think that this was not the way she'd imagined her week would end. In fact, the mere notion, if suggested earlier in her week, would have elicited a chortle and perhaps a disbelieving glare. As she wrapped her arms around herself enjoying the warm Romanian sun, she certainly had no complaints.

Excelling in all things academic - bar divination of course, but she would hardly consider that 'academic', Rosie was unsure what she wanted to do once she finished school. Potions mistress? Yes, she had considered it and she certainly had the talent for it, but she would rather cut off her left arm and feed it to a troll than spend all her days confined in a laboratory. Healer? She recalled her keenness for the topic in her fifth year, spending all her spare time pestering Madam Pomfrey and trying to glean every ounce of knowledge possible on the subject. She liked it enough, but she remembered the day Madam Pomfrey delivered some particularly bad news to the family of a small boy, the feeling of sadness in the room was palpable and in that moment she'd known she didn't have the disposition for such pursuits.

Animals were easy to read, certain postures and movements equated to their emotions everything adding up nicely like her Arithmancy homework. Though unpredictable in nature, there was nothing more rewarding than hatching a dragon egg and seeing it progress through infancy into a healthy and strong adult. Not only that, but working with animals she could spend hours outside with the sun tickling her skin in a most delightful way.

She'd been lucky enough to spend her first year out of school in New Zealand. The reserve she worked on had been relatively small with only a few cottages nestled in the mountain faces. Though very much understaffed the long work hours kept her busy and she loved learning something new every day. Rosie had helped care for Thunderbirds, Augureys and Jobberknolls, studying their physiology and importance in potion brewing. They'd even been fortunate enough to house a number of Antipodean Opaleyes, she was particularly invested in the breeding program seeing as their numbers were certainly declining – dragon hunting still prominent in ancient New Zealand tribes like the Yamil and Ookatara peoples.

The following year she'd been taken under the wing of famed Dragonologist Hui Xiong, sleep became a luxury and she'd spent her time becoming familiar with the anatomy and behaviour of the Chinese fireball under his guidance. Deep scarlet in colour, their cleverness shone almost as brightly as their colouring. Every feeding was accompanied with a battle of minds, the dragons enjoying the rapport they had built with her over time. Hui had taught her more than any textbook ever could, he encouraged building familiarity with the beasts and whilst he acknowledged that they were erratic in behaviour, he saw the most value in a hands-on approach.  
Her deep-rooted love of healing meant she was especially fond of caring for sick and injured animals, Hui had been especially impressed when she'd nursed one of the larger beasts from near death to perfect health. Noting all of her work in her scruffy purple journal Rosie had built a veritable cornucopia of information on the topic of dragon disease, though she'd readily admit her notes were far from done.

Interrupted by the cry of an Augurey, she snapped out of her musings; based on both the reverberation time and pitch she hypothesised it to be a male. Her attention was quickly drawn to the black watch adorning her slim wrist. "Almost nine" she muttered, dusting off her khaki shorts and heading to the Romanian Wizarding Embassy.

It had been late last night when the Ministry had owled her requesting her presence in Romania in the morning (she'd personally thought the letter had been quite forceful in its wording, reinforced by the fact that the owl refused to leave until she'd responded). She'd woken up Hui to tell him of her sudden departure, her stomach sinking and her eyes heavy with emotion at having to end her time with the man, Hui had smirked in his usual way stroking his beard thoughtfully.  
"If it is Merlin's will that you leave then I have no objection. When people work with one mind, they can even move Mount Taishan. It has been a pleasure" he had closed the door in her face, leaving her on his doorstep, eyes shining with unshed tears and her mind mulling over his strange choice of parting words.

Feeling quite content from her time in the forest Rosie felt her stomach constrict at the sight of the Embassy, her previous feelings completely replaced by more sinister ones as she craned her neck up to observe the building.

"Merlin…" the large spires at either side of the building were less than welcoming extending impossibly high into the sky. The building itself was an ordinary grey, but spanned an impossibly huge area. Of course it would be too much to hope the people would be of the friendly sort, the two guards situated at the entrance seemed to resemble trolls, they were taller than the average man with sharp and unwelcoming features. Pausing for a moment she readjusted her posture, standing as tall as she could be being scarcely five feet. She'd gone through all the usual security protocols and found herself in a sterile and cold room.

"Primrose Delorme?" Nodding, she gazed up at the pudgy man from her seated position, noticing the steely professionalism he outwardly displayed.

"Alexander Dumitru" introducing himself, he reached across the table, taking her small hand in his much larger one before speaking.

"As you would've gathered we have called you here for some rather important business" he started taking a seat across from her at the grey table.  
"You achieved top marks in your grade, correct Mrs. Delorme?"

"Yes Sir" Rosie wrung her hands in her lap nervously barely able to meet his brown eyes with her green ones.

"The British ministry speaks highly of your work, having reviewed some of it myself, I daresay it is admirable." Clearing his throat, he continued, obviously uncomfortable giving her a compliment.

"Heavily invested in the well-being of the creatures myself, we have decided to bring you into our Romanian sanctuary. I'm told you've spent a number of years detailing and learning of the various ailments of Dragons?"

Thinking of her precious purple journal she smiled once again, albeit more genuinely than before.  
"In my sixth year of schooling I began compiling all the notes I could on the matter, I'd loved reading about dragons but I'd found the study of their illnesses to be quite underdeveloped" she looked up at him meekly.

"I spent my first year out of school at the Moutohora sanctuary in New Zealand. As I'm sure you'd know birds and dragons share a lot of physiological features so working closely with both really helped to deepen my understanding of the creatures."

She looked up feeling uncomfortable speaking about herself for so long, he nodded at her to continue.

"This past year I've worked closely with Hui Xiong in China he runs a small sanctuary with Chinese Fireballs. As Nasty as they can be they are devilishly smart and I've compiled a large section of notes on them. Quite prone to eye problems, but that can be easily treated with a number of carefully prepared potions!" she absent-mindedly stroked a large scar on her arm as she spoke only noticing when Alexander's eyes travelled over it.

"Very good" he muttered scribbling a couple of things onto his notepad.

"Dragons are a very important part of the Romanian Economy Miss Delorme, we are one of the major exporters of scales, heart strings – you name a Dragon product, we export it." He smiled sheepishly at her revealing his less than pristine teeth, rubbing his hands together as one may before devouring a particularly delicious meal.

"A very good source of profit for us, That's why we require your help. Our Dragonologists have observed a great deal of dragons, both in captivity and the wild, experiencing some type of illness. Four of our finest have been lost in the past month." He stood up pacing, she could tell he was an unkind man by his mannerisms, he barely smiled except at the mention of money and he spoke without the tiniest inflection to indicate his interest in Dragon well-being.

Whilst his words told her he cared about the dragons, or at the very least was able to feign interest (just as every business man should) his body language told her this was just another thing to tick off his long list of problems. Though she didn't care much for Alexander she was becoming rather concerned about the health of the aforementioned dragons.

"You are expected to arrive at one o'clock this afternoon, you'll find the details here" he finished passing her a sheet filled to the brim with information.

"The team at the Romanian sanctuary looks forwards to meeting you Miss Delorme. That will be all" he said, barely looking at her, instead focusing on the rather expensive looking watch on his wrist as he exited the room.

She exhaled loudly, releasing a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding whilst running a hand through her unruly brown hair. Skimming the sheet her eyes widened at the proposed salary, though she supposed her new job would be a difficult position she'd gotten used to her otherwise modest pay. Not that she minded, more money to spend on her next trip to Diagon Alley she mused.

Rosie smiled, remembering that later tonight she would have to owl Tabitha, her best friend and fellow Ravenclaw. Tabitha would be absolutely delighted to hear of her new position and Rosie herself couldn't wait the catch up on the gossip Tabitha regularly spouted at her (she was a girl after all). Taking a few deep breaths she tried to calm down and quell the shakiness of her hands. Reading over the address once more she tried to look confident, as difficult as that was being vertically challenged.

"You can do this..." she murmured unconvincingly as she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing to Disapparate.


	2. The Unknown

Squeezing her eyes shut, Rosie steeled herself for the familiar discomfort of apparating. Destination. Determination. Deliberation. The mantra echoed in her head as she felt an incredible force pushing her from all directions, like toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube. Her stomach constricted painfully, making her thankful she'd opted out of breakfast that morning.

Feeling the unusual pressure subside, her lips curved into a smile as she happily noted she was standing on solid ground – her friend Tabitha had failed her apparition exam in a most unfortunate way and Rosie couldn't help but remember the incident every time she apparated. Though truth be told, when given the choice she'd always take her trusty broom Bertha, as she had affectionately named her. The way the wind would carry her where ever she wished to be was unlike anything she'd experienced before. She had spent more hours than she cared to admit flying around Hogwarts in an effort to dissolve her problems.

Finally allowing her green eyes to flutter open, Rosie scanned the area that was to be her new home.

"Merlin's beard…" Awe struck, she gazed upon the horse shoe shaped area nestled within the mountain ranges, noting the distinct smell of burnt wood. Her previous lodgings in China had been… interesting to say the least.  
An old cream coloured building with generously sized windows sat behind a shimmering purple barrier, to protect it from the dragons she supposed. Being at least two stories high she concluded that these must be the living quarters and once again, she was delighted at the smattering of native plants that surrounded the house. In fact, the whole area was densely populated with all the plants a herbologist could ever wish for – A Herbolagist's wet dream.

"Primrose?" jumping slightly at the deep accented voice, she dropped her purple notebook with a loud thud before gazing up into the warm and inviting eyes of an older looking man, his eyes and hair a matching shade of dark brown.

"Yes, but call me Rosie, please" she managed as she picked up her precious journal. Swallowing her nerves as she extended a hand out to shake his own. She noted his tanned skin, covered with cuts and scrapes and a particularly large scar the ran from his left temple to his generously sized nose, as well as the deep smile lines, etched on his otherwise handsome face.

"Pleasure, The name's Jack. We haven't had a new face around here in a while so all the fellas are absolutely stoked to meet you." he assured her as he released her hand, a smile returning to his face. She found herself smiling back, his Australian accent very soothing.

"I'm leader at this Sanctuary, have been for a good ten years now. The accommodation's a bit iffy but we manage just fine" he started, beckoning her to follow him as he led her toward the house, his strides almost doubling hers.

"I know you only arrived this morning and your arvo will absolutely chock-a-block, we'll have a meeting at 3 so you can meet the team and I'm sure you'll be excited to meet Jessie, she's a beaut of an opal eye, you worked with some in New Zealand yeah?" a bit overwhelmed by his laid back nature and strange, but not unwelcome, colloquialisms she found herself scrambling for words as they approached the large wooden doors of the building.

"Um…yeah, I mean ah yes. Yes." Oh Merlin, she really couldn't help herself sometimes, she cringed relaying her words in her head.

Chuckling he gave her a friendly slap on the back.

"Billywig got your tongue?" he said through laughter as he held the door open for her.

Wow. The walls were painted a strange green colour with seemingly random splatters of gold paint, the main room had a few tables scattered around it and a large white couch – why someone would pick white for a dragon sanctuary was beyond her, the soot stains glaringly obvious, though she supposed there was no direct correlation between dragon taming and interior design, so she could hardly fault them. It was certainly...interesting.

"Just nervous is all" she managed with a toothy grin.

* * *

Jack allowed her little time to settle in, she supposed it was part of the job; long work hours and little down time. He led her down an ugly green corridor back into the main room where an old woman waited, flicking through Witch Weekly. With her long grey hair and weather worn skin, Rosie could see the vestiges of beauty on her broad face.

"Oh! A new one, and she's still wet behind the ears." The woman approached, smiling like the kneazel who got the cream as she eyed Rosie, tucking the magazine under her arm.

"Mornin' Lynn, how's it going?" Jack smiled warmly, patting her back. "This is Rosie, I thought I'd leave her with you, the ministry's sent her, from China Howzat!" he looked down at Rosie before continuing. "Done a lot of work with sick Dragons too".

Lynn eyed her once again, her eyes twinkling with delight "Oh! You've come to help my dragons dear? You're quite a little one aren't you?"

Yes, she was somewhat…vertically challenged, but nothing could ignite a flame of rage in Rosie quite like a comment on her height. She could practically hear her mother's words ringing in her head; ' _Just imagine_ the headache _your father and I will have when we attempt to find you a suitable husband!'_ , _'Neck up, shoulders back! Honestly, Rosie what will we do with you?'_. She'd rather not be reminded of her mother. Ever.

"Well, at least I've never knocked my head on a low ceiling" She said, trying to make light of the comment, more for her own sake than Lynn's.

"Oh! Isn't she a darling?" Waving at Jack, Lynn grabbed Rosie's arm as she pulled her in the direction of the courtyard.

"We better get a hustle on then, four o'clock is pumpkin time here and I'd hate for you to miss the ball" She winked barely permitting her time to grab her notes as they continued their brisk walk.

* * *

Descending down a steep set of stairs carved into limestone Rosie had to squint to make out her surroundings, the passage was illuminated with enchanted mushrooms, glowing a faint, yet beautiful, iridescent blue. As they journeyed deeper into the labyrinth the air became thick and heavy, filling her lungs like hot billows, the frigid air embracing her like an unwelcome ex-lover. 

"Harvey Ridgebit himself oversaw the development of these tunnels, he was a real darling." Pausing, obviously in thought, Lynn's voice held a quality of reminiscence  
"He taught me everything I know"

Gazing at the multitude of stalactites hanging from the ceiling like icicles, Rosie barely registered Lynn's prattling as she continued surveying the area. Rosie found herself enraptured with the cavern surrounding her, rocks jutted out at odd angles and a pretty film of moss covered some of the stones, it was truly a piece of art created by Merlin himself. Walking for some time, Rosie could see a large exit approaching, her eyes protesting as it neared readjusting to the harsh sunlight.

Stepping through the small opening, they stood in a narrow ravine, the eroded cliff faces making her feel smaller than she already was, which was a difficult task in itself.

"You know, if you leave your mouth open much longer you'll catch lacewings. Terrible little insects dear." Lynn smiled, the wrinkles around her eyes becoming prominent. Rosie could see at least three different species, the most impressive being a large Horntail flying high above them as it roared, the sound mingling with the those of a number of other dragons, both near and far.

"Nesting animals as they are, Harvey had the ingenious idea to hollow out these caves for the dragons" Gesturing to the cliff face before them, Rosie followed Lynn's arm looking at the many hollowed out areas around them. Clever. Sharing a common ancestor somewhere along the line, birds and dragons shared a lot of morphological features and behaviours, one of those being their propensity to nest – a habit not lost by either of the species divergence it seemed.

"Have you given them some treasure, to placate them?" Though she could see they'd given them ideal nesting caverns she knew they'd be unlikely to stay unless given something to guard, be it treasure or eggs, among other things.

"Oh! Dear, I can see why you were top in your grade, what a delightful question! Yes, Harvey, may Merlin bless his soul, enchanted some rather lovely eggs. My little pets guard them as if they were their own" Lynn's Cheshire like smile returning "Isn't Magizoology wonderful?"

Walking through the ravine towards an odd looking podium the gravel crunched beneath their feet, dust rising up as every step disturbed the ground.  
Lynn turned to her, a motherly expression on her face – or what Rosie thought a motherly expression would look like, her own mother not bothering to bestow such looks upon her.

"We'll be going to see Martha, a welsh green and one of my favourite little pets." Guiding Rosie onto the podium she continued.  
"She's been ill since Sunday, so she's rather placid. We've been calming her with a sleeping draught so approaching her shouldn't be much of an issue – we did the same thing to my Great Aunt Madeline when she got old, nasty lady she was."

The podium rose slowly from the dusty ground rising up as if being pulled by invisible strings. Gazing into the distance she could see a number of other caverns on the opposite cliff face, the narrowest opening belonging to the one they'd just exited. Dangerously close to the edge she jumped back in time to see Lynn gazing down at her, a strange expression on her face.

"I'm getting rather old you know Primrose; you mustn't scare me like that or I won't be around much longer!"  
Rosie turned to apologise to Lynn but was caught off guard by her teasing smile. A joke.

"Sorry Lynn, I'm rather excited" Rosie sheepishly smiled tucking her purple notebook into her bag.

Having finished their ascent, they stepped onto a walkway poking out of the cliff face providing a wide birth to enter the cave. An extraordinarily large Welsh green sat just before a mound of brown blotchy eggs. Its head was down, resting on its front arms much like a puppy would sit. Irregular bursts of smoke escaped its nostrils like mushroom clouds.

Lynn gazed up at the beast from entrance with love and adoration, familiarity shone in both of their eyes. Approaching slowly, Lynn turned her head slightly as she walked. "This is Martha, isn't she wonderful?

Taking her time Rosie bowed her head to the beast. Watching as Martha raised her head slightly, gazing at Rosie with curiosity. Rosie noted that her scales had lost much of their lustre, she'd only seen a couple Welsh Greens in her short career but they'd all had glistening scales and bright eyes, shining with a thirst for adventure.  
"Oh she's lovely Lynn" Rosie announced happily as she observed that Martha was of considerable size and looked to have lovely morphology.

Lynn watched Rosie approach with the caution of a professional, noticing her brows knitting together as she came closer.  
Much to her dismay, despite being somewhat of a prized beast, Martha's eyes were half shut with exhaustion having lost their sparkle all together. Taking another tentative step forward Rosie watched Martha bow her head, a well-established sign of conceding dominance among dragonologists. Tentatively, she stepped forwards again watching for any changes in the Welsh Greens body language. It had taken her weeks to even get close to some of the Fireballs in China, although they'd never sedated them, Hui opted for more unorthodox approaches. Still, Given Lynn's expectant look and the lack of aggression on Martha's part, she guessed that this malady – whatever it may be, was worse than she'd originally thought.

Taking a few more slow strides towards the beast she slowly extended her hand forwards stroking the dragon's scales affectionately, Martha remained placid almost leaning into the gentle caress. Her head hanging down further as a low moan rumbled in her chest.

"Not feeling the best, are you sweetheart?" Rosie whispered, now using two hands to send a gentle stream of her magic over the beast, a method she'd used to calm some of the particularly aggressive Opal Eyes.

"We've been checking her daily; high heart rate, shaky breathing and abnormally low temperature" Despondent, Lynn looked towards Rosie her shoulders sagging as if she were carrying an unimaginable load.

As Martha's eyes shut Rosie started her examination. Gently running her hands across the Welsh Green's body she noticed her scales were extremely brittle, chipping away like old paint. Pausing over her kidney, Rosie pushed down probing the area and eliciting a particularly large huff from Martha.

"She's got signs of Hydronephrosis" Rosie noted sparing a quick glance at Lynn. "How's her fire production?"

"She hasn't made so much as a spark since Tuesday" Grabbing supplies out of her bag Lynn produced a poultice, slowly replying as she smeared it over Martha's large belly.

Productusignis, lack of fire, was not a common symptom at all. She'd only observed it once before in a particularly old Opal Eye from New Zealand and despite her best efforts, he'd been welcomed by deaths embrace not long after.  
The inherent ability of a dragon to produce fire was as natural as breathing for them, lack of fire usually indicated the failure of a major metabolic pathway. She knew that the Welsh Greens had special glands in their throat that could secrete a sticky, flammable liquid to later be ignited by their magic, in fact, A major defining feature of the Welsh Green species was its slobbery snout, Martha's mouth looked as dry as the Sahara - not a good sign at all. Judging by the sadness so clearly evident in Lynn's eyes, Lynn also knew that Martha would soon rescind this mortal coil.

"It'll only get worse tomorrow. We've had three others pass so far, subconjunctival haemorrhaging, decrease in temperature then finally heart failure." Sighing, Lynn looked up at her prized beast before continuing, "We're trying to make her as comfortable as possible, Charlie should be back tonight. He's always had a soft spot for Martha, the dear."

* * *

 **Thankyou for reading! Any feedback is appreciated, I should be able to update again soon.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the HP universe**

Evangeline xx


	3. The Realm of Heaven

As Rosie lay cocooned within the worn brown sheets of her bed, a seemingly unremarkable photograph sat cocooned within her luggage. Having once sat proudly on the bedside table of her previous lodgings, it had been skimmed and dismissed by more than a few sets of eyes in its brief existence. If those people had bothered to take a closer look they would have seen a much younger, happier Rosie sitting atop of the shoulders of a rather curious looking old man, with long grey hair and eyes a matching shade of green. Had they looked a second longer, perhaps they would've seen the moment shared between the two, noticing the way they threw their heads back in laughter, eyes crinkling and smiles broad as the sun shone down brightly on them. Perhaps being the observant type, if they had allowed their eyes to linger for just a moment more they would've noticed the way the photographs edge curved in an odd way…almost as if something, or someone, had been removed. With visions of Martha and the challenge ahead plaguing her troubled mind, Rosie drifted off into a fitful sleep, the photograph lying forgotten in her luggage for yet another day.

Waking up to the distant clatter of plates and echoes of conversation, Rosie managed to dress herself quickly in her usual shorts and sensible shirt. Looking herself over in the large mirror adorning her wall, she tried to tame her unruly hair into a braid- or at least something that resembled a braid; frowning as she noted the harsh Romanian sun had given rise to a small army of brown freckles on her nose. Grabbing her bag, she barely spared a second glance at her new room as she hurriedly made her way down the ugly green corridor, allowing her eyebrows to draw together as she noted the time. Lynn had warned her not to be late for breakfast, after all, 'she could stand to have a few extra serves of pudding' as she had so eloquently put it.

They'd been up late last night tending to Martha as her symptoms worsened. After doing all they could to ensure Martha's comfort, Lynn had told her a bit about Charlie, who she would supposedly be meeting today, explaining that he worked most closely with Martha. He had apparently been wrangled into some type of family dinner - his mother not taking no for an answer.

Turning the corner, she froze and she smiled slightly at the scene before her, dozens of people sat at the large table chatting animatedly, reminding her of the breakfasts she had shared with her grandparents in her youth. Trays of toast and other breakfast foods whizzed around the table as people helped themselves. More interestingly, a rather slim man seemed to be enjoying his share of toast, or rather 12 heartily buttered slices as he spoke through mouthfuls at a somewhat disgusted looking Jack. Fast metabolism perhaps?  
Looking over at the far end of the table she saw Lynn sitting next to a rather handsome red headed man, he was tall with ample muscle and a freckled, albeit good-natured face. As they engaged in conversation he looked to be rather peeved about something, his shoulders sagged and his blue eyes were alight with anger.

Lynn and the man finally noticed Rosie, she watched as he bowed his head, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath as he ran a large hand through his long hair. Feeling unwelcome, she willed her legs into motion.

"Morning Lynn, how are you?" She asked, choosing to ignore the tension at this particular end of the table.  
"Oh, just wonderful dear!" Lynn tugged her arm, sandwiching Rosie between herself and the man. "Now would you please eat something? We wouldn't want one of the dragons mistaking you for a toothpick, Would we?"

Brushing the man's large muscled arm as she reached for a slice of toast, she quickly spared him a glance, noticing the way his jaw was set as he stared intendedly at the plate before him. Rising in her seat, Lynn reached across and smacked him on the back of the head eliciting a rather colourful string of expletives from him.

"What have I done this time?"  
"You're not going to introduce yourself Charles? Did your mother not teach you any manners?" Lynn said, scolding him.

"Well look at her! I could pick her up and throw her like one of those muggle things…what are they called again? Javelins? She doesn't even reach my chin for goodness sake." He shot back at Lynn, speaking as if she wasn't even there.

"I barely think my hei…" Rosie started angrily, as Lynn cut her off.

"Well! excuse me young man, but you're going to have to deal with it. Poor Martha is out there, moments from death and you're complaining because the ministry's sent help? I'm rather old you know dear, if you go off on me again like that I don't think my poor heart will handle it!"

Rosie knew Lynn had him there, there was a knowing glint in Lynn's eye, nothing worked like a good old-fashioned guilt trip, and Rosie had a feeling Lynn had already sent Charlie on that particular trip more than once.

Sighing and looking down at his hands he relented. "I…Yes, I suppose you're right Lynn."

He finally looked at her, she could still see tell-tale signs of anger on his face. Yes, he looked tired…but the git had barely looked at her since she walked in, and he had called her short!  
Grumpily taking a large bite of her toast she internalized her frustration, just as her mother had taught her to do. True, when she had seen him she had quite enjoyed the way his scruffy red hair ran across his strong jaw…and the way an odd shining scar snaked its way up his arm, disappearing underneath his shirt; but he was an ass. There was no other word for it. Troubled by her thoughts more than his actions, she refused to look up at him, even when she felt him rise, clearing his throat in a gruff way.

"Um…Rosie was it?" he said, eyes darting to Lynn.  
"Lynn's left me in charge of you, so…we should probably be off to see Martha now" Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, he lingered for a second before starting for the door. He'd almost escaped when Lynn grabbed him roughly by the ear, whispering something hastily into it as she pulled him down to her height.

Getting up to follow him, she was stopped by Lynn, whose usual smile had returned.

"Never mind him dear, you know how men can be. He's really a sweet heart, I think he's had a bit of a rough time at home is all"

* * *

She remembered him now, he'd been three grades above her at Hogwarts, seeker for Gryffindor, and a very talented one at that. Despite his earlier antics she remembered him being quite friendly and outgoing, her friend Tabitha having a slight obsession with him in their second year. He'd grown quite a bit since those days, his short hair was much longer and his shoulders much broader, making him almost unrecognisable.

Their passage through the cave had passed in near silence, she'd still been mad at him for acting like a complete git, and by the way his jaw kept on clenching he was still unhappy with her presence, still, she could feel his gaze burning on her like a spotlight as they, very awkwardly, exited the cave and walked toward the podium at the far end of the ravine.

Voice softening, he finally spoke. "It's been two days since I've seen Martha but Lynn's told me she thinks she'll, umm…you know"

All feelings aside, Rosie pulled out her purple notebook, flicking to her page on Martha. She'd spent the better part of her final year learning all about dragons, every spare moment she had she would have her head in a different book, reading intently. Quite curious things books were, sitting on the shelf begging to be read so that someone could bring their words to life. Within each one the words sat, longing for someone to bring the worlds they contained into existence; like a seedling waiting to be nurtured so it could sprout through the soil and emerge into our world. Still, she'd never read of a disease quite like this one.

There'd been the great Dragon flu of 1956, carried initially by gnats before mutating and infecting the Chinese fireball, systemically working its way through the dragon breeds – stricter trading methods had been enforced as a result and a very bright potions master had worked closely with renowned Dragonologist Wille Schmid to make a concoction that could break down the protein coat of the virus before it could replicate. In the 1930's another Virus had spread quickly from North America to Europe, that one had come from Sheep but had thankfully been less of an issue than originally thought, only causing sniffles and myalgia for a brief period. She was sure there were more less documented health scares, but most of the pathogens and diseases that affected dragons were very mild, a product of Dragon's having an unbelievably resilient immune system.

Reviewing her notes before speaking, she inclined her head as she looked over at him "The kidney swelling was my main concern, Lynn said they've been giving her brandy to thin her blood, get it circulating a bit better, but I don't think it's been doing much good" The symptoms for whatever they were facing at the moment were unlike any documented case in history, productusignis and low temperature? She was utterly frazzled.

As the platform reached Martha's enclosure Rosie looked up at Charlie as he rummaged through his bag, only satisfied when he pulled out a large container of toffee.

"What's that for?" she asked curiously.

Producing the first real smile she'd seen from him, he pulled out another large box before stepping from the platform onto the rocky outcrop. "They're her favourite, she's got a bit of a sweet tooth"

* * *

When they'd entered the cave Martha had been slumped over, non-responsive. Her laboured breathing of yesterday abandoned as an eerie silence settled over her lair. Charlie had quickly forgotten about the toffee, using his large strides to reach Martha quickly.

Noting the absence of chest movement in Martha, Rosie also rushed forward reaching for her wand. Probing her hands over the large expanse of exposed chest she settled her hands over Martha's heart, relieved when she felt a faint pulsing greeting her hand.

"Her heart's still beating" Rosie said softly, turning her head slightly to Charlie as she spoke. He was busy running his hands over her major organs, checking for swelling.

Gathering as much wood as she could from the cave's interior, she piled it close to Martha as she pulled out her deep brown wand, aiming it at the wood.  
"Incendio!"

This earnt her a quick look from Charlie as the wood ignited, but he was quick to return to Martha. The rapid decline in Martha's health was no surprise to Rosie, Lynn had described the previous two dragons demise in explicit detail. There was an idea that had been floating around in her mind since her first meeting with Martha yesterday, Lynn had already told her that Martha was as good as gone, the way Lynn saw it they needed to make her as comfortable as they could whilst using her as a study of the illness. Hesitating, she walked over to Charlie commanding his attention.

"I'd like to give her some Hemlock" she said, trying to look confident as she awaited his, no doubt, negative response. Hui had described the exact chemistry to her some time ago, she'd spent the day after scouring her texts for any mention of it, only finding a short chapter in an extremely old book. It was theoretically sound but to most people it would sound absolutely mental.

"What?" He asked unbelievably "Can you not see the state her body is in? Merlin, you're thicker than I thought. Hemlock? Are you trying to treat her or kill her?"

Frowning she stepped in front of him, dangerously close, preventing him from continuing his work. She could feel his warm breath beating down on her forehead as his breathing became laboured, a product of his rage.

"As much as I hate to admit it Charlie, she is as good as dead; Her fire production has been gone for days, not to mention the obvious signs of renal failure, she's unresponsive for goodness sakes! It won't cure her that's for sure, but I once read... I once read that it has these special proteins, ones that could perk her up for about a day, before letting her slip away - painlessly"

His eyes glinted with an emotion she could not recognize as he pushed past her, continuing his previous work.

"No" he said firmly "Hemlock is poison and I refuse to let Martha die, especially as a result of some little girls unfounded theories" he tensed his jaw as he turned back to Marth, ignoring her.

Little girl? Unfounded? he was the idiot! She understood that he obviously loved the beast, but who wouldn't want their loved ones to, when their time came, pass in a painless manner. She wished her dad had been afforded such comforts. The worst that could happen was that Martha would slip away painlessly a few hours before her time. The best case scenario would afford her a whole day of life, one where she would be numb to her pain and she could enjoy every last morsel of toffee she could fit into her snout. Plus, every extra minute was vital in deciphering this illness. It was only a matter of time before another sick dragon showed up and above all else, she wanted to be able to treat that dragon and any others that came after it.

"Fine" she said through gritted teeth. What a narrow-minded bigot, if she was going to have to work with him for the rest of her year she'd rather take the Hemlock herself - no matter how handsome he was.

* * *

Martha had died that night. Alone.  
Her roar of anguish had woken them all from their slumber, reverberating through their living quarters like an earthquake, providing them with one last sinister memory of the beast that had brought so much joy into their lives.

* * *

 _ **Thankyou for reading, let me know what you thought!  
Evangeline xx**_


	4. Jaws of the Beast

As her eyes fluttered shut that night the uncomfortable weight of the day remained. It felt like her lungs were being squeezed by a vice causing her breaths to come out in short gasps.

She could see the way the others at the reserve looked at Martha, similar to the way one would regard a much-loved family pet or a favourite book.  
Yes, she had been dreading this very moment since she had been introduced to Martha but the limited time she had spent with the beast could barely constitute the formation of a meaningful relationship.

When they had left Martha that night Rosie had still been quite mad at Charlie.  
To her, knowledge was like a key that could be used to unlock realms of possibility thought otherwise impossible, an idea was something that should be nurtured and studied through its infancy until it could blossom into adulthood and be accepted as fact, or refuted as fallacy. She truly believed Hemlock was the best option for them, though she was sure when she relayed the story to Tabitha she'd scold her on her solely intellectual approach.

As Martha's last cry bellowed through her room she'd not been surprised, Martha had been on the cusp of death even before she had arrived; but that didn't stop her stomach from lurching – the same feeling she got when she took off on her broom too quickly.

Pushing her emotions into the back most corner of her mind, just as a good pure blooded girl was trained to do, she dressed quickly from the collection of clothing strewn haphazardly around her room. Her final outfit was a rather eclectic combination of red gumboots that stopped just before her knees, a large white tee shirt that could very well belong to a man twice her size, and her usual sleep shorts. She wasn't really sure what they were to do in this situation, would someone come and collect her? Was she allowed to go and inspect Martha herself?  
Lowering herself to the ground, she wrinkled her nose in discomfort as the scratchy white carpet rubbed against her palms. She located her mediwitch supplies after some time and pulled them from underneath her bed, tucking her walnut wand into the waist band of her shorts as she stood. She was hoping to take some blood and tissue samples, particularly from the Lymph nodes and Fire glands.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The noise reverberated around her room and the door shook threateningly in its frame. With a quick intake of breath her grip on the bag loosened, it fell to the ground with a soft thud as some gauze spilled out.  
She turned quickly to the door, pulling out her wand in a habitual manner.

"W…Who is it?" she asked shakily, her mind conjuring images of the terrible beasts and death eaters that could be standing mere inches away. In an instant her door swung open, welcoming a gust of cool wind as it did so. She had dived behind her bed the second she had seen the knob turn with a loud squeal.

If she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her.

"Rosie?" she heard a voice ask, a rather non-threatening one at that. Peeking her head out for a moment she saw flaming red hair and shoulders so broad she knew it could only be one person (Unless Lynn had taken up bodybuilding in the last couple of hours).

"Charlie?" she said slowly, surprise lacing her voice. His eyes were wide and wild as he held his notably large ash wand at the ready, obviously on edge for some reason. What surprised her most about the situation was the current absence of sadness on his face, not even a sullen glint in his eyes.

"Get your wand and stay behind me" he said hastily, stepping out into the hall waiting for her to join him.

As she started for the door he frowned as he saw her try and gather her mediwitch supplies from where she'd dropped them.  
"Leave it." She wanted to ask him why, and possibly scold him for the rude tone of voice he was using but by the way his jaw was tensing and the set of his shoulders she thought he'd snap at her again or worse, he'd not let her come at all.

Rushing after him, she struggled to keep pace. Though he was quite comfortable with a brisk walk she was jogging to keep the same speed. Stupid short legs. She couldn't help but be curious over his strange behaviour…why did he have his wand out already for instance, were they expecting trouble? Or was her notoriously over analytical mind making her worry for no reason.

"Charlie, why do we need ou…"  
"Shhh" he turned around quickly, causing her to bump into his chest as he covered her mouth with a large hand. "I need you to stay behind me and not make a sound or I promise you, I have no issues sending you back. Clear?"

As she nodded vigorously he finally uncovered her mouth, further increasing his pace as he took off.  
The cave through to the canyon seemed a lot scarier at night, the otherwise mystical looking stalactites hung in the darkness like daggers waiting to fall and pierce through their next unsuspecting victim. The faint blue glow did little to illuminate their path, rather, without its partnership with sunshine the cave was more of a dull deathly blue, like the lips of someone who had depleted their supply of oxygen long ago. It was just so…dark. Tabitha had told her such fears were childish, but that hadn't stopped her from leaving a small light by her bed in the night time- not that she'd admit to it.

Talk about brooding. She'd happily follow him if he'd offered her any tidbit of information but he'd chosen to leave in in the dark.

Nearing the end of the cave Charlie had pulled her behind him, rather roughly mind you. His head poked out as he craned his neck to survey the area before them.

"You're acting absolutely mental!" She pulled his shoulder back a bit roughly as she said this.  
"Why are we sneaking through here like a pair of fugitives?" Absolute git. She thought the last part, or at least she hoped she did, nevertheless, the scowl on his face was rather nasty, a bit like she imagined Lynn's would be if you really tested her.

Sighing deeply, he trained his eyes on her.  
"I promise I will explain when we get back to the living quarters, for now I need you to cooperate and be on alert. Deal?"

Regarding his tenseness and the way his eyes were imploring her to be amenable for the moment she swallowed her anger once more, inclining her head in such a way to imply agreeance. She didn't trust herself to speak without aggravating him further.

Noticeably relieved, he peeked out to survey the ravine once more before beckoning her to follow.

* * *

"I…It's gone?" Rosie gaped as Charlie ran his hands through his hair, kicking the rugged wall of the cave as he swore.

"No shit" he winced as his boot hit the wall once more. Wow. She thought that he wanted to sneak out and get good samples before the others could. Perhaps that he wanted to be the first to pay his respects to the beast. Not this. Wow.

Where Martha's remains should have lied in all their recently deceased splendour, lay a pile of bones belonging unmistakably to a dragon and a rather familiar looking welsh green pelt…but where was the rest of her?

Inching forwards slowly she ran her hands along the smooth bone, so much for collecting samples. There was nothing of use here, no blood work could be done, no samples from infected tissue, no autopsy. Nothing.

How could possibly help the next dragon if they still had no idea what they were facing?

As she turned to look back at Charlie she saw that he was slumped on the ground, his chest rising and falling rather erratically. His face was buried in his hands which were cut up and bleeding, a result of his earlier theatrics, she was sure.

What the hell was going on here?

"Charlie…" she walked toward him slowly, fully intending to heal his scuffed hands…and try and pry any information she could out of him.

As she slowly bent down to match his level his head abruptly snapped up. She stayed silent for a moment, just gazing into his eyes, trying to read his emotional state.

"Do you hear that?" he said finally, breaking her from her reverie as he stood suddenly, pulling out his large wand once more.  
"Someone's coming up" he moved quickly towards the entrance dragging her forcefully behind him.

Pulling out her own wand she found herself hiding behind his large frame, her heart was beating frantically in her chest and her hands were shaking. What if it was the person that had done this? Maybe they were back for more and would kill them both! Oh goodness, she was still so young with a bright future ahead of her, was it really her time to die?

She could hear the faint whir of the podium as it rose, willing her to squeeze her eyes shut, her fingers white as she held her wand at the ready with unnecessary force. Charlies breathing seemed a lot calmer than her own, she didn't dare open her eyes again but she could imagine him at the ready, like a cat waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

Footsteps, hesitation, the faraway sound of the dragons as they hunted in the night. Her vision swam as she heard the gravel crunch under the shoes of their approaching guest. Would they use an unforgivable? Maybe they'd kill her slowly and painfully. Grabbing the back of Charlie's shirt, she pulled herself in closer, an action she would have regretted if she had been in her right mind.

Just as she thought her heart would burst through her chest in all its crimson glory she felt Charlie's shoulders relax as he took a small step forwards, putting some distance between the two of them.

"…Lynn? Jack?" His words barely registered, it was only after she heard the motherly voice of Lynn that she finally peeked her head out from behind Charlie.

"Charles! What did I tell about sneaking off! You didn't even think to come and let me know first?" she approached the two of them, wand still out. Her eyes widened as they landed on Rosie.

"And look, you've gone and pulled poor Rosie into the thick of it" She pinched his ear rather harshly pinning him in place with a glare.

"Never mind that Lynn" Everyone's eyes were drawn to Jack, where he had moved to the back most corner of the cave "would you look at that!" Jack's deep Australian baritone called for, or rather, commanded attention as he extended his wand arm out, illuminating the wall of the dank and musty enclosure.

Since she had been lead on this wild goose chase by Charlie her mind had become cluttered and unfocused; she fixated on the way her stomach had been engaging in some rather uncomfortable gymnastic manoeuvres, the way she had truly feared for her life not a moment earlier and the way Martha's body had been desecrated and dismantled in a way that would suggest foul play. On the far side of the enclosure an almost unrecognisable smear of blood adorned the cave. Almost unrecognisable. Ignoring the way rivulets of blood were streaming down the wall beginning to hide the image behind them she could make out a large skull with something serpent-like protruding from its mouth, a cruel parody of a tongue.

"Is that A…A…" the words were lost in her mouth as she spoke them, the hairs on her arms were raised, a Pavlovian response to an image that had frequented her childhood. One that she knew could only mean bad things.

So much for being a clear cut case. It had seemed like a difficult enough task when they were just dealing with the dragons, but she didn't even want to begin to decipher the implications of tonight. Someone owed her one hell of an explanation.

She wished she could channel the commanding presence of her father in moments like this. She'd stand tall and demand compliance. Rather, the shock of the image before her had rendered her speechless, mind you, she was not a woman of many words to begin with. No wonder she hadn't been a Gryffindor.

She was all but forgotten as Jack, Lynn and Charlie surveyed the scene.

"Just like last time, but they've left us a message this time" Charlie said as he joined Jack at the wall, tracing the outline of the mark with his finger.

With a few deep breaths - and a quick prayer to Merlin - she slowly approached the remains of Martha, crouching down to survey the dirt around her. They must've used an odd spell to manage this. The air felt heavy and strange, not like it had earlier in the day and she could still feel the tingle of magic in the air.

"You've got to be tugging my wand mate, that's the fourth one this month" Jack said in the distance as they continued their analysis of the wall.

Her eyes scanned the unsettled dirt by her feet, a collection of foot prints mingled with one another, some belonging to a large dragon, a much daintier pair belonging to her and a collection of large boot marks, like those belonging to the men of the sanctuary, could be seen all over. So in all, no remarkable or damning evidence – it was probably too much to hope the culprit would drop their wand and maybe even a couple of pictures of them at the crime scene, if only life were that simple.

She could see Charlie's large feet heading in her direction, but she didn't dare look up. It was embarrassing enough that she'd all but crawled inside his shirt to hide, but he'd also witnessed her reduction to a speechless and afraid 'little girl' as if he didn't already have enough fuel against her.

"Suppose you haven't seen Jennifer then? I 'ad her stationed here all night" She heard Jack say to Lynn, she didn't need to look up to know he was on the receiving end of one of Lynn's famous glares.

"You had Jennifer here? And you didn't tell me! Oh the poor dear, Jack are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

* * *

What a git, he was probably the one that'd done it in the first place, if not for Lynn maybe he'd have carved her up too.

Charlie had done his best to explain the situation to her on their short journey back to her room. According to Charlie, he knew she would never pass up the opportunity to stick her nose into his affairs making her the perfect companion tonight, a rather presumptuous assertion on his part, but between her shock and better judgement, she knew better than to correct him.  
Plus, a bonus was that she was new so he could conclude she wasn't involved. Not a conclusion she would've come to herself. Maybe she was a cold hearted accomplice sent by Voldemort himself...maybe she'd been imperiused this whole time and was about to commit an unspeakable act (if she hadn't already), really, he'd left a lot of doors shut in his mental assessment of her character, but she'd rather not open them for him.

So someone had been stealing the bodies… and Jennifer, who was supposedly meant to be watching Martha's enclosure was yet to be found. Not to mention the dark mark at the scene of the crime. If she'd wanted to deal with deranged lunatics she'd have become an Auror, or studied divination!

Merlin, this was too much for her, next thing she knew they'd be digging into her family history and unjustly drag her off to Azkaban. Her mother would be so proud, finally joining the ranks of her families finest.

Needless to say, the rest of her night had been less than restful.

* * *

 **Sorry guys I've been really sick, I hope this chapter was ok and that you enjoyed it. If you have a spare minute, I'd love to hear any feedback!**

 _ **Evangeline xx**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**_


	5. Simpler Times

Death is always the same.

The inherent vice of life, the passage of time. What a funny thing it is to be alive and know that no matter how great we are in life, we will be nothing in death. The circle of life cannot truly be called a circle unless we return to where we began.

It was never nice to be reminded of one's mortality, especially by experiencing the death of someone close. The days following Martha's death had been long and tiresome, made worse by the fact that their search efforts were in vain.  
Jennifer was never found.  
Asking someone about her seemed out of the question given the circumstances. All that she knew was the product of her keen ear. She had a talent for fading into the background, which wasn't hard to do considering her small stature and inherent shyness. Sometimes sitting and waiting for the information to find its way to her was the best solution. Silence and time are precious commodities; she'd learnt that a long time ago.

Jennifer was a young woman who had come to work at the sanctuary seven years ago, she was not of remarkable talent but nevertheless, she had worked under Jack's guidance in a number of key projects and had earned the love and admiration of her peers. One of the men at the breakfast table had described her as a bit of a loony…another had made a rather lewd comment about how he'd miss her 'buns', she'd suppressed a laugh at that one.

There had even been whispers of Jennifer orchestrating the whole Houdini act, what better way to do it than right under the noses of Jack and Lynn? there was no denying that she had the means to achieve it, she had free reign over the sanctuary and apparently, a bit of a temper on her – but who didn't?  
From what Rosie gathered, she could see no real motivation. She was a young and successful student with a blooming career in Magizoology. She had a high paying job and, if she could believe a rather porky blonde man, she also had a boyfriend that adored her. In her opinion, It probably comforted people to use Jennifer as a scapegoat rather than allowing their minds to delve into the more disquieting possibilities.

There were so many questions, but not nearly enough answers, which was not something Rosie was accustomed to nor enjoyed.

Jack carried on with his duties like usual, with half the staff in a state of shock and disarray they all needed a strong and level headed leader to keep them in line. Unfortunately, her association with him only went so far as meal time. Lynn had informed her that in the absence of any sick dragons her talents would be put to use elsewhere. People were afraid, and rightfully so. All this business being swept beneath the carpet…it seemed wrong, but she wasn't about to speak up about it, she'd rather compile her thoughts in private and prepare herself away from the prying eyes of her colleagues.

Being under the wing of Lynn meant that Rosie had the opportunity to work with a select group of dragons, her favourite being a Norwegian Ridgeback named Norberta. Ridgeback's were as nasty as they came, nevertheless, they were beautiful to look at with their deep black scales and cat like eyes. Their wing structure was truly remarkable; she'd spent a whole afternoon in her fifth year investigating the aerodynamic properties of their wings. They could reach remarkable speeds due to their distinct physiology that enabled them to manipulate lift and drag forces, aided by their magic of course. Females were always the largest and most aggressive and Norberta was certainly not known for her good behaviour, rather, she seemed to have made a game out of luring in unsuspecting keepers with the guise of submission only to try and reduce them to a pile of ash (Poor Harrison, may his soul rest in peace).

She'd especially enjoyed the way Charlie retold the story of Norberta's arrival, his clear blue eyes had shined with delight as he spoke of Ron, his brother, and how Hagrid had won the beast in a hand of cards – Hagrid had even managed to hatch her himself! Charlie almost seemed nice in those moments when he didn't know she was around, she knew better of course.

Sighing deeply, she settled onto her bed thinking over the events of the past few weeks. Saying it had been eventful would be an understatement.

Chewing her lip, she took her time writing out her observations in her usual neat, sloping cursive.  
Jennifer was definitely someone she'd like to know more about, she didn't truly believe she was behind the disappearing bodies, if she'd already managed to conceal the death of four dragons why would she disappear in the height of her reign? No, it was more likely she had been tangled in something that had nothing to do with her. An unfortunate victim of circumstance.  
She'd already investigated the symptoms of the disease and Lynn had provided some interesting insight into them. It was a systemic illness that manifested in the major organs, it also seemed to mingle with the dragon's magic in a rather unfortunate way. The only way they could really move forward from here was with blood samples and a full autopsy…

Gently closing her precious notebook, she placed it gingerly on her bedside table before snuggling into her blankets. She rolled onto her side being sure to leave her lamp on, a habit she'd had since she was a child.

As she often found, her body and mind were like two small children who refused to get along. Her body was the well-behaved child, listening to orders and relaxing in preparation for sleep. Her mind…well…it was the trouble child, the one that acted as if the blood pumping around its body had been replaced with caffeine, whizzing about in circles, mulling over the events of her week.

Come on Rosie. Close your eyes. Sleep. Relax.  
Taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind of the flurry of images and ideas that never failed to flow through it whilst counting slowly in her head, hoping that by the time she reached one hundred she would have been welcomed by the sweet embrace of sleep.

One.  
Two.  
Three.  
Four.  
Five.

* * *

 _"Five…"_  
 _"Four"_  
 _"Three"_  
 _"Two"_  
 _"One"_

 _"Ready or not here I come!"_  
 _Tabitha's voice reached Rosie's ears from somewhere far away. She chanced a look out from her hiding spot underneath the bed in her room, feeling relief as she realised Tabitha had chosen to investigate one of the other rooms first. It was a snug fit but she'd always been smaller than the rest of her year. She clasped her hands over her mouth as she giggled with mirth._

 _Tabitha could be heard in a nearby room as she searched their usual hiding spots; in the cupboard, under a mound of laundry and her personal favourite, the crawl space behind the stairs where only she could fit._

 _"You better not be in the bloody crawl space again; you know I can't fit in there!"_

 _Tabitha's voice soon became distant as she set off for the other wing of the house. It wasn't long until she couldn't hear her at all, just a dull ringing noise only noticeable in the absence of sound._

 _She repositioned herself so she was in the middle of the space under the bed, crossing her arms over her chest in an X as she gazed up at the wooden slats above her nose – she could only just make them out, the darkness sucked everything into it like a vacuum. Goosebumps rose on her arms as the cold wooden floor chilled the exposed skin of her arms and legs, causing a violent shiver to travel down her body._

 _This is what he felt like._

 _When they'd lowered him into the ground she could scarcely believe that the modestly sized wooden box could contain all that was her father, his flamboyant nature and scolding tongue, his big heart and clever mind. What remained of his body._

 _She raised her hands slowly, pressing them against the wood above her like a prisoner pressing against the cold metal bars of their cage._

 _It was so dark._

 _If she tried to lift her head her nose would collide with the slats, is that what her father felt like?_  
 _Rosie closed her eyes for what felt like an hour trying to empty her mind, imagining only darkness. It was almost cleared completely, only the tickle of dust from under the bed tethered Rosie to her surroundings. What would it be like to never think again? Her papa always told her that the puzzle of life was one that was begging to be solved, as long as she had her mind she should try and fit all the pieces together, to find those pieces that were missing. She found it difficult to look at something and not ask herself 'why?', how could one die peacefully without knowing how a broom worked, or how to bake pumpkin pasties? What if she hadn't found all the pieces to the puzzle yet?_

 _Her throat constricted as if invisible hands were trying to strangle her._

 _Breathe in._  
 _Breathe out._  
 _Breathe in._  
 _Breathe out._  
 _Breathe…_

 _She'd only been in here for all of ten minutes, how was Papa meant to do this for all of eternity?_

 _Slowly she allowed her eyes to flutter open. The wooden slats above her curved and snapped in odd ways, sliding around her in a macabre dance of wood against flesh. She could feel them pressing on her, pinning her arms to her sides awkwardly._  
 _Pushing. Squeezing. Constricting._  
 _Her lungs were begging her for more oxygen, though it seemed as much as she gasped it in, she could never quench their thirst. Darkness moved around her like a phantom. Various shades of black swirled and snaked their way toward her, cloaking all that fell within their path in a deathly, dark hue. The dull throb in her head intensified as the beating of her heart became louder, an almost deafening cacophony of noise seemingly emanating from within. A crescendo of noise, a crescendo of misery. She hadn't even known she'd been crying until a hot, wet tear cascaded down her face, tickling her neck as it fell slowly to the ground._

 _"Papa?" she whimpered as she writhed under the bed, trying to escape from its clutches. Sobs wracked through her body as she bit her lip in an effort to quiet herself, the beating of her heart increasing in volume and speed._

 _She felt a pair of small hands grab her pulling her free from darkness that had entrapped her only moments earlier. A dark figure bathed in shadow swam across her vision._

 _"Papa?"_

 _She wanted to open her eyes but it was so hard, it was so dark._

 _"Rosie you need to breathe! It's me, Tabitha" she felt warm hands stroke her hair as her head was lifted and settled onto Tabitha's lap. Her lungs swallowed the air around them hungrily as she focused on the soothing touch of her friend. Her heart rate finally slowed, silencing the pounding in her ears and head._

 _Through watery eyes, she finally looked up; "Tabitha? I'm so sorry" she sniffled as she saw the concerned look on her friends face, a sad twinkle in her deep brown eyes._

 _"Blimey Rosie! you had me worried" Tabitha said as she pulled her in for a hug, fresh tears of her own beginning to fall._

 _"You were having a right fit when I walked in here, would've been a good hiding spot too if not for the whimpering" Tabitha's voice was laced with humour but the underlying concern was hard to miss._

 _They remained like that for a moment, gathering comfort from each others embrace._

 _"Now! What do you say we go to the kitchens and get a big bowl of strawberry ice-cream I know it's your favourite! Maybe we can get the elves to sneak us some pie as well! What problem isn't solved with pie?" Tabitha's usual smile had returned, a dreamlike quality to her face as she mentioned the pie._

 _Rosie wrapped her arms around herself as she followed Tabitha to the kitchens, allowing a small smile to form on her face despite her puffy eyes._

 _She was lucky to have such a wonderful friend._

 _"You coming? I'll race you!" Tabitha laughed as she turned momentarily, before sprinting off in the direction of the kitchens._

* * *

Rosie pushed her sweaty hair from her forehead as she sat up in her bed, the room around her suddenly felt too small, as if it would swallow her whole.

Standing on shaky legs she set off for the window, allowing her eyes to settle on the photograph in her suitcase, one that she'd not yet had the strength to display.

Her and her father had been so happy that day. A single tear travelled down her cheek as she fixed her eyes on his face, one that she was afraid she'd forget. Picking it up, she ran her hands along the cool metal of the frame, enjoying the smoothness that greeted her hand. Things would certainly be different if he was still around.

Death is always the same.

* * *

 _ **Sorry it's a bit of a sad one, I thought it was important to delve into the past a little bit (there'll be more to come!) Thankyou to everyone that favourited or reviewed, you warmed my cold, cold heart :)**_

 _ **Any feedback is appreciated, hopefully I will have a chance to write again soon!**_

 _ **Have a great week,  
Evangeline xx**_


	6. The Circle Begins

The Neonatal ward of the Sanctuary was Lynn's domain. Steep steps carved into the earth led through to a massive chamber below that was the hub of all things related to hatchlings. Rosie hadn't even noticed the area at first, most of her life was spent with her neck craned up, a habit that had not been broken on her arrival at the sanctuary. Eyes skyward, she often found herself enraptured with the enclosures and dragons above, it was hardly surprising that she'd missed the narrow entrance to the ward, nestled into the rock face at the far end of the canyon.

The room itself was rather uncomfortable, being below ground it was damp and humid like a sauna, not only that, but it smelt like old socks…and burning. By the end of her days she often had lost more than a few layers of clothing (Much to Leroy's delight). Leroy was a lecherous old man, the type that had a beer belly and had lost his ability to be subtle a long time ago; she'd realized last week that he spent a little too much time looking at places that weren't her eyes…If she pulled her top any higher it would cover her eyes. Leroy was part of a large group of oldies, the only difference was his comrades preferred to ignore her presence, not that she minded, meeting so many new people had been overwhelming.

The Senior members were busy with their own experiments, ordering their teams around like evil dictators. One of the senior Dragonologists was collecting fluid samples from eggs to test for its magical properties and another was investigating the chitin content of the eggs themselves in an effort to improve the current design of fire-proof equipment. Lynn was the 'head of department', her unit was more involved with the maintenance and care of the beasts rather than specific experimentation which meant that Rosie was hard at work in their severely understaffed unit.

The only other girl in Rosie's unit was a rather leggy blonde girl who devoured an endless supply cauldron cakes she had stashed in her bag, she wasn't very friendly so Rosie hadn't bothered with her – she also pronounced dragon as dree-gon, which to Rosie, signified she wouldn't be worth the trouble anyway.

The only notable person she'd met was Robert who seemed to be quite young and charming, that was of course, until she had seen him and Charlie acting all chummy. More often than not they'd be hidden away in one of the many rooms in the chamber laughing at something inappropriate or sitting together at the dinner table flicking peas at Jack.

The main chamber of the ward housed the eggs. A Dragon's first weeks of life were its most important and in Rosie's opinion, these were the weeks that could be used to develop a dragon's comfort around humans. Their intrinsic violent nature would always remain, but as she had observed with Norberta, early contact often meant they were more malleable to the sanctuary's needs for study.

The egg room was probably the warmest of them all. It was lined with large hearths that housed the eggs with an area at the far end of the room dedicated to potion and food making. The environmental requirements were highly specific, in lieu of their mothers flame they'd had to reproduce the environment artificially – the hearths periodically released large bursts of red flames onto the eggs to warm them, a method that had been working quite well since its discovery.

Currently, Charlie was standing at the far side of the room hunched over as he studied the eggs before him. He had busied himself with a large clutch of Fireball eggs that had been passed onto the sanctuary after their mother had been killed by poachers, a fluid filled green sac had been puzzling them all – it was resistant to the constant fire it was being exposed to, but in all, it was not normal and in her opinion, was cause for concern. The low podium and his large stature seemed to make his task a difficult one, she saw him rubbing his back on a number of occasions. Served him right…he had called her a javelin after all.

"Merlin save me" she said under her breath as she continued surveying Charlie. Why couldn't he be one of those stubby boys that had more girth than height? Were bucked teeth too much to ask for? Or at least onion breath.

She looked back as she saw Charlie moving the cracked area of the egg towards the flame, in any other species this would have been a clever move but for a Fireball, as Hui had taught her, it would do more harm than good.

"No, no! they need to be horizontal so the surface area exposed to the coals is increased, the Fireballs like the extra heat" She hurried over to help him, she'd worked with dozens of Chinese Fireball eggs during her time with Hui, they were an odd egg to work with, having a number of strange characteristics.

"Here, like this – it'll hatch out this end" She said quietly as she fastened her fire-proof gloves, reaching in to correct the placement of the egg. She closed her eyes as she ran her fingers over the rough, scaled surface. Finding the largest most protuberant scale, she made sure it was buried deeply within the coals. She smiled as she thought of the Fireball that would be joining them soon, there was already a large crack running along the egg from left to right, she was expecting it to be fully hatched by the morning.

"Done that a few times?" She had almost forgotten Charlie was there until he had spoken. What was more alarming was the way his lips curved to one side, like he was suppressing a smile. Slimy git had probably been laughing at her as she'd been shifting the egg – bloody heavy things they were. His red hair was almost the same shade as the flame-colored egg, a color that she quite enjoyed to be honest. On the egg that was…not on him.

"Thank you Charles" She gritted her teeth as she replied, a natural response to the condescending tone he'd used. She didn't bother looking back as she left him.

* * *

Concede defeat and ask for Charlie's help? That was unlikely.

This was like the time Julie Matthews tried to tell everyone she'd gotten the highest mark for the transfiguration test (Rosie had beat her fair and square and they'd both known it). Oh how stupid she had been. Poor, naïve Julie Matthews. When she woke up bald on the morning of the next exam the dormitory had been torn between amusement and worry for poor, poor Julie.  
"Oh Julie who could've done this?"  
"Well…I think it suits you Julie…it brings out your umm…nose?"  
Not that she'd needed that advantage of course, Julie was known for exaggerating her grades, but Rosie had known if her mother caught wind of her being knocked off her pedestal there would be a price to pay.  
Had she regretted it and lived in fear of being caught for the crime all year? well yes, but she felt a lot better when her results arrived. Julie was the type of person that would squeeze Rosie's cheeks as she said things like "I just want to eat you up!" and "You are just the sweetest little thing!".  
The point being, Rosie hadn't needed anyone's help then and she certainly didn't need it now.

She was currently preparing, or trying to prepare, the stock feeding solution for the hatchlings. The food needed to be prepared to facilitate their rigorous schedule, once born they would need feeding every half an hour for at least a month and to be under constant supervision.

She blew out a puff of air sending the strands of hair that had escaped her elastic skyward.

She'd added the Chickens blood and the whiskey, the only thing that remained was ginger for its antimicrobial and warming properties. Wonderful bloody ginger that had to be stored on the top shelf of the ingredients cabinet, well out of her reach. Turning slowly as to not arouse suspicion she eyed Charlie trying to see if he'd noticed her…predicament. Thankfully, he seemed to be concentrated on the eggs, watching for any further sign of movement. Her eyes ran across the eggs and then his broad shoulders before they finally settled on the wooden stool next to him, that was when her face scrunched up like she'd just bitten into a lemon. Oh Joy! Even better, her wand was sitting right next to his big stupid hand – walking over there to get it would be like holding up a massive sign saying 'What does Rosie need her wand for? You should turn around and investigate'. Eyeing the countertop below the cabinet she peeked over at Charlie once more.

As quiet as a mouse, she pressed her hands onto it struggling to pull herself up. Adrenaline rushed through her as she realized all she had to do now was reach up and grab the ginger. She felt like one of those thieves sneaking through the ministry, stealing valuable treasures, putting the security to shame. She raised her arm, struggling as she stretched it as far as it could go. Almost there…

"Ahem"

Her skeleton almost escaped her body as she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Oh Merlin. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she swore under her breath. Looks like the security guards aren't so stupid after all.  
She turned slowly from her position on the counter putting on as fake smile as she caught Charlie's eye.

Git. Bloody Git. Stupid, stupid Git. One of his eyebrows was raised and a knowing smile was plastered on his face.

"Ah! Umm…Charlie I was just ah, stretching, hunching over those eggs all day can't be good for the muscles can it?" She tried to smile again but she was sure her face probably looked pained, why did she say these things?

He was still doing that stupid smile like he was mocking her.

"Of course" He walked over to her so he was standing directly next to her  
"I sure could use a stretch myself" he said, putting emphasis on the word stretch (Git), as he leaned over the buckets, inspecting their contents.

"Let's see then. Chicken blood, whiskey and…hmm what was that about stretching?"  
Some would have said he had a mischievous glint to his eyes, Rosie would describe it as murderous, stupid, frustrating, slimy, foul or evil, just to name a few adjectives. Judging by the way her facial muscles pulled uncomfortably she was sure looked like she'd taken another bite of the hypothetical lemon.

"Yes, I better stretch my long arms. Perfect for reaching into high places wouldn't you agree? It'd be hard to go without them. I'd be rather incompetent. Oh look! I've found some ginger."

He placed the ginger next to her leg on the bench, still smiling as he did so. Incompetent! Incompetent? So that's what he thought of her.

Lowering herself down from the bench she inhaled deeply as she briefly closed her eyes. Not even her mother could get this much of a rise out of her. For most people, once they'd learned height was a sensitive topic for her would leave it alone. Not to mention, she was quiet in school which meant the opportunities to be insulted were dramatically decreased. Channeling the most loathsome pure-blooded women she could imagine she gritted her teeth as she put on a sickly sweet smile, craning her neck to look up at him.

"And who said chivalry is dead?" she began with an icy tone, although the second part was a bit harder for her to force out. "…Thankyou".

Merlin did have a sense of humor it seemed. As he turned to leave he'd forgotten about the low hanging stalactite he'd ducked under to reach her, she could see him about to hit it and if it were anyone else she'd have given a warning, in fact, she felt the words forming in her mouth before she swallowed them down quickly, remembering his javelin comment.

"Fuck!"

That'll teach him for calling me a javelin!

He walked into it with a soft thud, reaching a hand to his head as he registered the pain. She saw him exhale deeply as he kept on walking, she'd half expected him to turn around to see if she'd been watching. The way he was grumbling would suggest he already knew the answer to that question.

How did that saying go again? The one about karma.  
She'd almost smiled before she thought about how painful that probably was. Damn conscience.

* * *

She found the best way to get work done was to play her favorite game, one she'd devised herself (A stroke of genius if you asked her). It was called the 'Ignore Charlie' game, as a matter of fact, she was playing it right now. It was like her own blissful utopia where he wasn't constantly teasing her or belittling her. She was definitely winning, not that Charlie knew he was part of her game but she hadn't looked over at him for at least 20 minutes – Take that!

She'd been so lost in her own thoughts she almost hadn't heard the noise behind her, abandoning the feeding stock in front of her she turned quickly as excitement bubbled within her.

Confirming her suspicions, she looked over at the Fireball eggs which were displaying signs of movement.

"Charlie, quickly they're hatching!"

she rushed over from her position next to the cabinets on the far side of the chamber, making sure to grab a large bucket of chicken blood in preparation. Her long braid flicked over her shoulder as she turned her head quickly to make sure he'd heard her.

His large strides carried him to the eggs quickly, a large spiny segment had fallen from one egg allowing them to see the tiny red beast concealed within. It was writhing around in an effort to break the shell letting out soft mewls from its effort.

"Looks like tonight will be a long one" Charlie muttered as he bent his knees to get a better view. From her past experience, the Fireballs would be ravenously hungry after birth, she was glad the food was sorted. With a second loud crack, she saw a neighboring dragon poke a large webbed foot out of its shell, it was reaching about like a worm emerging from the soil.

With a cute roar, sounding more like a noise you'd expect from a cat, the first dragon finally burst out of its shell, the viscose innards of the egg oozing into the flames as it did so.

Rosie let out a small gasp as she saw the beast for the first time, It was a small red thing with spines protruding out of its tail, its eyes were still shut.

Birth would never cease to amaze her.

* * *

 **Thank you for all the support! It means a lot to me - I've just had the most terrible week but thankfully writing gives me some time to relax and unwind, Let's hope this week will be a better one for all of us!**

 **Thanks again for your support and patience,**  
 **Evangeline xx**


	7. The Blood of an Innocent

"You actually interned with Hui? As in HUI XIONG?"

Between the Fireball that was clinging to her shirt, digging its claws into her like she was its mother and Robert's incessant questioning, she wasn't sure she would make it through the night with her sanity still intact.

Looking up from the dragon that was greedily feeding for the sixth time that night, she mutely nodded at him once again. What was so hard to understand? Blimey! He'd already asked her the same question four times.

To be frank, Robert looked ridiculous. The tiny dragon was clawing its way up his body, scaling him as if he were a wall. She found the whole thing to be reminiscent of Jack and the beanstalk, with his tall and gangly stature she'd say that a beanstalk was a very good description of him indeed. Though if the little dragon continued to climb Robert she was sure its findings would pale in comparison to the treasures Jack procured. Rather, it'd likely be left empty handed or maybe, if it searched hard enough, it would find the pea of a brain that he so evidently had. It was very logical, Peas are a legume after all, fitting in with her original beanstalk conjecture.

"Wooooow" Robert smiled crookedly, patting the top of her head as if she were a dog.  
"Is it true that he sleeps with the dragons in the enclosure? I once heard he'd assimilated himself right into the pack, like one of those muggles that goes to live with the wolves"

She could see Charlie smiling in her peripheral vision, he could clearly see her annoyance at the line of questioning. At least Robert had been kind enough to take some interest in her, unlike another git she knew…

Sighing once more she tried to be polite, she rarely lost her temper at someone for being inquisitive, it was a virtue she admired greatly, but after three hours of stupid questions her patience was beginning to wear a little thin.

"Given the Ministry of Magic's classification of dragons do you truly believe that to be possible Robert?" She had been able to collect herself once more (She'd just decided to start a round of 'Ignore Charlie' which always seemed to brighten her mood).

Robert placed the hatchling onto the large stone table in front of them, removing his gloves as he looked like he was deep in thought. From her understanding, peas lacked neurons so it was probably quite the task for him.  
"Well, it's what my cousin Fergus told me so I dunno" He finally rattled off, smiling sheepishly.

"I don't know Robert; I think that I've heard that too. Are you suggesting that Fergus is a liar Primrose?" Charlie didn't even look up as he butted in, he didn't need to look up for Rosie to see the smug look on his face. Talk about stirring the cauldron.

The look she was about to shoot him could've struck down a small child, though she took the moral high ground and chose to ignore him. She was a sore loser and she had promised herself she wouldn't talk to him for at least another 15 minutes.

"He certainly didn't when I was with him but they say nothing is impossible" She smiled at Robert despite knowing that his claim about Hui was a load of Hippogriff excrement. Charlie's grin had failed to dissipate, much to her discomfort. Unluckily, not a moment later Lynn had dragged Robert from the room to set him on another task. Because obviously, it was a great idea to leave Her and Charlie alone…

She gently unhooked the baby Fireball's claws from her shirt, softly placing it down on the table with its brother. Stroking it gingerly a few times, she made her way over to the hearth that housed the third egg in the trio of Fireballs.

The final egg encased in fluid had cracked open as if the dragon would emerge at any moment, Fireball's often responded to the cues of their brethren so it was very odd that it hadn't yet hatched considering its brothers had both been born yesterday. She could see it's little foot poking around half-heartedly but the dragon inside seemed to have little intention or capability of breaking free.

She had been over the hatching process in her notes and had even scoured a few of her textbooks. Lynn had also failed to provide any information on the topic, she hadn't seen anything like it in her years at the sanctuary but had been adamant they leave it be. Rosie had doubts, in her mind, the sac was impeding the dragon's ability to push through the shell. Furrowing her brow, she leaned over the odd egg, surveying it for what felt like the millionth time. Pressing lightly on the sac as she had done before, she felt the familiar resistance of the jelly-like substance inside. The amniotic fluid was meant to be a honey-like consistency and certainly shouldn't have been outside of the egg, which Lynn had also expressed concern about; even more reason to intervene in Rosie's opinion.

She glanced at the time, her face souring as she realized she had 5 more minutes until she won this round of 'Ignore Charlie'. She was itching to leave the room to beg for Lynn's permission to break open the egg but she would obviously have to offer him an explanation before leaving. Bollocks.

"Charlie?" He pretended not to hear her as he was adjusting the dragonlings with a gentleness she wouldn't expect from him, watching them closely with his blue eyes.

"Charlie? I'll be back in a minute I'm just going to pop in to see Lynn"

He just nodded his head as he furrowed his brows hard at work, sometimes it was almost admirable how dedicated he was to dragons. Almost.

* * *

Raising her wand, she inhaled deeply to steady her nervous hand. With a long swiping motion and a spell whispered under hear breath, she watched as she made a deep incision into the Jelly like substance – which was a hideous lime green color disguising the usual striking red of the Fireball's egg. The material of the egg was essential as it allowed for efficient air exchange between the dragon growing inside and its environment which was the first thought that sprung into Rosie's mind as she realized just how thick the jelly encasing the egg was.

Though she could feel Charlie's presence peering over her shoulder she didn't dare turn and break her attention from the task at hand.

Working slowly, she was able to remove the strange substance piece by piece, making sure to keep some for later study. She froze as she looked down at the egg, void of any sign of life it had once been displaying. One of her favorite sounds in the world was the mewl of a newly born dragon, a sound that was notably absent. Forcing her eyes downward, she dipped her head in defeat as she could no longer see the tiny webbed foot writhing around, trying to break free.

Thankfully, Charlie chose that moment to step in and continue the examination. He deepened the crack in the egg before splitting it in half entirely, she had to steel herself before she looked back to the table they'd been working on.

It was a sad little thing with one wing smaller than the other, the bright red scales she was used to seeing on a Fireball were replaced with sickly, brittle ones that were more of a salmon color. She could see a matching Grimace on Charlie's face as he noticed the lack of breathing and the way it's protruding eyes were crusted over.

They remained like that for a moment, letting the silence speak for them.

"I…I'll go tell Lynn" Rosie spoke quietly as she hung her head in resignation.  
Making her way to Lynn's office, she almost fell backward as Charlie's hand shot out gripping her wrist firmly.

"Ravenclaw, right?" First looking at his hand wrapped around her small wrist, she looked up nodding at him mutely.

Charlie drew his lips in a thin line, before looking her in the eyes imploringly.

"Hydronephrosis, brittle scales…" He listed as he ran his eyes over the beast. Following his lead, she inspected the dragon once more. The same symptoms as Martha.  
It was infected?

"I…It's infected"

"Why do you think we haven't taken blood samples? Isn't that the first thing you would've done?"

She had thought it odd that they didn't have any…  
"Y…Yes the thought had crossed my mind"

Looking toward the entrance he bent down lower so he was almost at her height, speaking hurriedly.

"They've gone missing"

It took a second for the words to sink in, stolen samples? Who would do such a thing? Someone or something obviously didn't want them to meddle with this, whatever this even was. He quickly looked at the entrance again before continuing.

"Jennifer wasn't the only one to be taken either, there were two before her."

Oh, Merlin would she have a lot of information to synthesize tonight, not only did they have sick dragons on their hands, but they had missing keepers and a mysterious dark mark to deal with? And if the stories she had been hearing from Tabitha had any truth to them the anti-muggle movement in England was becoming disturbingly prevalent– there were even whispers of the return of You-Know-Who…

With surprising agility she reached for her bag, pulling out three free vials before muttering a quick spell under hear breath.  
"What are yo…"  
"Shh!" she interrupted Charlie by placing one vial in his hand. First, he looked impressed (The years she had entertained the idea of being a Mediwitch meant she was more than proficient at taking blood), then he looked confused, like a small child that realized fire was hot for the first time.

"You need to give this to Lynn and tell her what happened." His eyes widened at this remark before the red tinge she was accustomed to seeing on his face returned.

"Are you mad? Did you not just hear what I told you?" She debated letting him continue his tirade so he could wallow in embarrassment when she revealed her (Brilliant) plan but she hadn't the time. From what he'd told her trivial things around here were becoming the difference between life and death.

"AND I will keep these" She butted in as she held up two small vials of the scarlet blood, pleased with herself when she saw a small grin appear on his face. Now she could only hope to hide these vials convincingly, she couldn't care less if Lynn's sample went missing.

"Didn't think you had it in you shortie" She had just opened her mouth to provide him with a cutting retort when he strode out of the room, presumably to find Lynn - Damn long legs.

As he exited she put the vials into her bag, wrapping them in a small black case for protection. She could only hope that Charlie could be trusted.

The mewling of the two dragon hatchlings interrupted her musings, it looked like it was feeding time again. They were crawling around the table clumsily as they stuck their small heads high in the air. Their eyes would open soon, that's when the real exhaustion would hit the keepers, one of the ladies at the New Zealand institute had likened the phase of dragon growth to the 'terrible two's'. One would think their stomachs had some type of extension charm on them, the way they wolfed down their feed.

By the time she was dismissed to her room she could barely stand, as she ascended the steps up to the canyon her legs protested at the effort almost giving up – a reflection of her mental state at that moment, she'd fall asleep on the stairs then and there if she could. Her hair looked as if Lacewings had taken up residence there and her tank top was stained with chicken's blood, the pungent smell mingled with whiskey and ginger was less than appetizing. The one thing keeping her going was the precious vials she'd secured in her bag. Kicking up dust as she walked through the large opening, she wrapped her arms around herself in response to the cool wind whipping around her only serving to worsen her hair situation.

The eerie silence in the cave back to the reserve was enough to put her on edge, that and the fact that the vials felt like they were burning a hole in her bag, she was itching to get them safely stowed away in her room.

Pinching herself to stay awake she increased her pace, surveying her surroundings for imminent danger. Now was definitely not the time to admit she was skittish. Her mind had a tendency to over think things. For example, right now she was imagining a nest of vampires emerging from the darkness. They'd pin her down and suck every drop of blood from her body as if it were pumpkin juice. When they were done with her she'd be as white as parchment paper and probably all ugly and shriveled like a mandrake, the only person that would come to her funeral would be Tabitha. How depressing.

How would Tabitha even know what type of funeral she wanted? Maybe her dreams of a Viking funeral would never be realized!  
She could imagine it now; Tabitha would be softly weeping as she pulled her white gossamer robe around her body, the air would be cold and frigid causing the light material to whip around in the wind like a kite and the sky would be pouring with rain (Mother nature would obviously be crying at her tragic death). Tabitha would probably sob things like "Why?" and "It should have been Julie Matthews!" (Sentiments Rosie completely agreed with, especially the latter). With a light push, the boat carrying her mangled body would begin its passage through the lake, gliding over the smooth water gracefully like a swan and then, with a quick spell from Tabitha, flames would engulf the boat in a bright and glorious red glow ensuring her passage to Valhalla.  
Huh. She'd have to remember to tell that one to Tabitha, the whole Viking thing reminded her of her favourite muggle history books.

Her mind was about to race into another wild scenario when a small cracking noise resounded through the cave. Gripping the bag tightly, she willed herself to look to her right. This was it! The nest of vampires was going to take her life any moment now, Oh! how could she be so naïve? Only idiots forgot their garlic necklaces in the morning…not that she usually wore one, but if there had been a day to wear one it was today.  
There was a small gap in the cave wall hidden well by the mossy expanse that spanned the area, if she hadn't been on edge she probably wouldn't have noticed it.  
She wished she hadn't. In fact, she wished that the earth would open and swallow her whole, then maybe she wouldn't be caught in this mess.

A small ghastly face surrounded by a halo of ratty blonde hair was peeking out at her with wild eyes. For the Love of Merlin! Looking back wasn't an option. She had read a book on natural selection, those that stuck around were the ones that got killed, she didn't want to be another statistic to feed into that particular theory. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, she pushed past the fatigue and worry and didn't stop until she reached her room.

Slamming her door shut, she leaned against it trying to steady her irate breathing as she slid down to the ground, hugging her legs to her chest.  
Merlin…Had there really been a person there? Or was it just her exhausted and overactive mind playing tricks on her? She had only glanced there for a second after all…

Pulling out the blood samples, she ran her hands over the smooth glass, sighing as she did so. Her head lolled to the side as she passed a hand through her messy brown hair. She would give anything to be back in school with Tabitha, when her Father was still alive and the world was her oyster.

Holding the vials tightly she brought them to her chest as her eyes fluttered shut, she wished with all her heart that they could work this out; even if she was stuck working with the biggest prig in the universe.

* * *

 **I hope you are enjoying the story so far!**  
 **Thanks to everyone that commented, favorited or followed. Once again I'd love to hear any feedback (more romance? more dragons? more mystery?) :)**  
 **I h** **ope you are all doing well and have a good week**

 **Evangeline xx**


	8. Chapter 8

_To my darling Rosie,_

First and foremost, I would like to thank you for writing me a letter sooner. Under no circumstances would I have liked to know my best friend had moved to bloody Romania! I wasn't sitting at home waiting for a letter, no, that would be ludicrous! Someone writing a letter to their best friend? Bah! Nonsense.

 _Any who, I'm glad you are doing ok. Did you know that Maggie and Thomas got engaged? Their kids are going to look like deformed eggs with bucked teeth, they'll probably be really sweet though, so at least they'll have that going for them! (Seriously I need to be there with a camera the moment she pops one out, I can't wait to get a load of them! Ha!). Have you copped any yet? It's a bit pathetic that Maggie has had a roll around in the sack before you – just something to think about you absolute PRUDE!_

Are you free next week to drop Lana at the train station with me? I'm sure she'd love to see you – I probably would as well, but I doubt you even remember what your weary old friend looks like. I could be a deformed egg for all you care!

Lots of love from your best friend in the whole entire world,

 _Tabitha 'The most beautiful witch of her generation' Jenkins xx_

Rosie smiled down at the letter in her hands, in truth, receiving letters at the sanctuary was no easy feat. The incoming owls were subject to the Dragons flying overhead and owls just happened to be a favourite food of many of the species in residence. She gave Tabitha's owl a few treats before sending it out her window, taking special care to send it north- it would avoid flying over the canyon that way. She had been having an awful morning before that, thank Merlin for Tabitha, she always seemed to be there when she needed her most.

She smoothed down her usual khaki shirt as she walked down the hall to the dining area. Charlie was off with Robert today so there was no point sitting with him, not that she'd want to anyway. She didn't feel like being force fed sausages until he arteries turned to fat and coalesced, that meant Lynn was out of the question…

Rosie inhaled deeply, part of her already knew the idea forming in her head was a foolish one, the other part of her was terrified at the prospect of heading to the reserve alone.

"…Good morning" Rosie tried to say excitedly as she sat across from the other girl in her unit.

Still chewing loudly, the blonde girl raised her head and shot Rosie an icy glare, her bushy eye brows rose and drew together like two caterpillars at arms. Brushing a greasy blonde strand from her face, she shovelled another fork full of eggs and bacon into her mouth, not bothered by the long, greasy string of bacon that was hanging out of her mouth. Looking down at the green apple in her hand, what little appetite Rosie possessed was ruined.

"Lovely weather, isn't it?" She tried again, offering the blonde a small smile.

"Lovely weather to mind your own damn Bees-ness" The girl replied moodily, wrapping a few slices of toast in a napkin to stow away in her bag whilst shoving another into her already full mouth. Rosie flinched slightly as she mispronounces business, a small reminder of why she'd not put more effort into befriending the girl.

The memory of the supposed face caused a shudder to travel through her body, just the thought was giving her enough anxiety to cause some pre-mature heart issues. Which wouldn't be so terrible, she thought. If she were to drop dead in the dining hall she'd never have to walk through the cave again! Though that was probably a tad dramatic…

Rosie had woken up in the foetal position on the rough carpet of her room. It'd been the most idiotic thing she'd done in a long while - falling asleep with the samples out in the open? She was surprised she'd woken up at all.  
The vial now sat safely in a hollowed-out book in her trunk – If anyone wanted to find it they'd have to search through her large collection of books. Most normal people wouldn't be willing to sift through compelling titles such as 'Arithmancy: Was Robert Tellford right about the Vector Theory?' and 'A Complete History of the Shrivelfig.' It wasn't perfect, but it'd do for now.

A head of red hair caught her eye from across the table. She'd have to sort this all out with Charlie which seemed to be an increasingly difficult task, the younger female members of the team seemed to watch him like ravenous hawks hunting prey and Robert followed him like a lost puppy; she glanced at the two just in time to see Charlie turn a big Romanian man's fork into an umbrella …Boys.

Collecting her nerves, she reminded herself that firstly, the chances of vampires inhabiting the small cave to the canyon were very slim and secondly, that she was tired and out of her mind last night so the supposed face was probably just a trick of the light…

Slipping out of her seat she brushed her hands over her body, not that she'd have any crumbs on her she thought bitterly as she looked at the half-eaten apple on her plate.

"Rosie!" She almost jumped out of her skin as a long tan arm slung itself over her shoulder.

Turning quickly, she was affronted by Jack's wide smile. "Heading to the reserve?"

She could feel her whole body relax, thank Merlin! She smiled up at him and nodded.

"How ya settling in? Lynn told me you did good work with some Fireball's. Bloody beautiful, aren't they?"

She was sure she'd always have a soft spot for the beautiful beasts, the year she'd spent working with them had been one of the fondest experiences she had.

"…It reminds me of being back in China, I like it here though, apart from um…you know…" She trailed off. Oh Gosh, sometimes she hated herself, way to bring up the hippogriff in the room…

"Lynn told me you lost one of the little ones" He said, his smile barely cracking. "I'm sorry for it, but we got some fine samples. Lynn said she'd process them today so hopefully things will ease up"

She was about to respond to him, perhaps she could wrangle some information out of him? Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, after all.

"Oh Logan!" Jack finally let his arm slip from her shoulder, waving a large hand at a man in the distance.  
" Sorry Rosie but I gotta fly, good to hear you're doing well" He barely turned back to her as he hurried in the other direction, well… at least she'd had a companion to escort her through the cave, her delicate heart would remain fully functional for yet another day (Or at least until nightfall came and she'd have to make the return trip…but why dwell on the future).

The rest of the day was as monotonous as one of Professor Binns lectures. Cauldron cake girl from breakfast was being a real pain and the little dragons were just discovering that they had teeth that were perfect for biting unsuspecting keepers.

The blonde girl was currently wrestling with one of the difficult hatchlings, her blotchy red face was beaded with sweat and her stubby fingers kept reaching for the dragon, mostly in vain, it was rushing around the table in what it thought to be a game.

Finally, the girl expelled a deep breath in frustration, reaching forward with renewed vigour – she grasped the poor dragon by its small wings, pulling it roughly toward her; the poor thing writhed around in pain, squealing like a piglet.

"Ah!" Rosie's eyebrows knitted together in concern, she softly placed the Fireball she'd been working with on the table before rushing toward the blonde.

"Ah…Ah…" She mocked cruelly, pulling a fake doe eyed expression as she rose her voice to an annoyingly high pitch "Really? You're like a bloody invalid, every time you speak it's like I'm being Crucio-ed _ **"**_

Rosie's head hung low. People could be so cruel sometimes, still, there was no reason for her to be hurting the innocent little dragon, she fixed her stern gaze onto her co-worker "You're hurting it" She said bluntly.

"You think I'm hurting this dree-gon" The girl scoffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"I could snap you in half like a twig" she smiled bitterly, finally putting the dragon down so she could pretend to snap a twig with her hands. That was enough to silence Rosie. As she ran her eyes over the girl she felt her stomach clench and her heart rate quicken, the blonde wouldn't just snap her in half! She'd take her down like one of those muggle wrestlers and crush every bone in her body.

"Oh, Lynn called for you. I can't fathom why"

"Lynn called for me? How long ago was this?"

The blonde barely supressed her smile, as she inspected her nails, "Thirty minutes ago? I forgot, whoops." Her tone suggested that this was more of an intentional omission than a case of forgetfulness.

Rosie tried to supress her emotions, she didn't want to give Cauldron cake girl the satisfaction of seeing her upset. The other girl's lips quirked as she looked up, as if to speak again.

"Oh hush Melanie, you're scaring the poor girl. With Charles and Robert out today I need a bit of help with the serums…How wonderful! Look at this one"

Rosie and 'Melanie' Jumped as Lynn's voice pierced the awkward tension in the air. Lynn was beaming brightly, holding her favourite coffee mug in one hand and a stack of test tubes in the other.

"Come on, why are you just standing there? Don't make me chase you! I don't think my bones can handle that much running, then wouldn't you feel terrible?" Lynn said over her shoulder, heading for the stairs up to her office.

"It's like Christmas came early!" Lynn sang as Rosie shot a nasty glare at Melanie, jogging to keep up with Lynn.

Rosie's enthusiasm instantly waned when she saw the steep staircase that led up to Lynn's office. Narrow steps twisting up at odd angles sat between a narrow junction in the wall – A heavy weight settled in her stomach, as if she'd eaten something rancid for breakfast.

 _In. Out. In. Out.  
_ She tried to steady her rapid breaths.

Lynn's voice echoed from above, but the words seemed far away. With a deep sigh, she looked up at Lynn's disappearing form one last time. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her small hands against the stony walls to guide her up as quickly as possible.

Once she reached the top, she stepped through the uneven doorframe at an inhumanely fast speed, her lungs felt at ease instantly as she surveyed the large, open room. Lynn's desk sat in one corner, it was an odd wooden desk with piles of papers and pictures covering every inch. For the most part, the rest of the room was bare. The only other remarkable feature was the long work bench at the far side of the room, it extended the entire length of the wall. Rosie barely managed to suppress a squeal of delight as she saw the various instruments that lay on the workbench – she couldn't even name some of them!

Rosie jumped as Lynn set a wrinkled hand down on her shoulder, distracting her from her previous state of unaltered bliss.  
"Here, can you separate this out for me? I'm going to get some asphodel solution" Lynn said as she set the samples on the counter, picking her tea back up to sip it merrily.

Rosie hunched over the work bench. Her brows knitted together as she set the sample in a small stand and pulled her wand from the waist band of her trousers.

"Centrifuga" She said as she moved her wand in a circular motion. After a few seconds, the test tube began rotating – she tried to be gentle with the motion of her wand, if she went too fast she'd destroy the cells rendering them useless.

Back in China they'd centrifuged countless samples, this was not a new task for her. Nevertheless, as she watched a red layer begin to form on the bottom of the tube, a familiar flutter settled in her lower abdomen – as if a family of butterflies had decided to make it their new home. Slowly, A strange purple layer of lesser density rose to the top. Rosie stopped her motioning. She lifted the cold glass tube in her hand and turned it over a few times. The glittering purple layer caught the light in an odd way, shining an almost iridescent blue. It wasn't anything she'd seen before.

Rosie turned to Lynn quickly and was about to comment when, she noted the odd expression on Lynn's face. Her lips were puckered together in a firm line and her eyes were staring warily at the door. Then, with a sickening gurgling sound emanating from deep within, Lynn fell to the ground. With a frail hand, she reached out toward the desk before her grey eyes settled on some undeterminable point in the distance, frozen with fear.

Rosie stepped back, bringing her hands up to shield her face a she let out a loud gasp. A darkness like she'd never known enveloped the room, a dense, suffocating darkness that filled her lungs with smoke and her mind with terror.

Shit.

Rosie drew her wand, her hand shaking as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. She couldn't even see her hand as she lifted it in front of her. She knew Lynn was on the ground somewhere, possibly dying but it was like someone had tied lead blocks to her feet, preventing her from moving even an inch.

"Lumos" she whispered. Nothing happened.

"Lumos" She repeated desperately.

She stilled herself, listening to the movements of her surroundings. Her heart clenched as she registered laboured breathing coming from somewhere in front of her. It wasn't the melodic breathing of a healthy person; each infrequent breath was accompanied with a low whistling sound.

"Lynn?"

Lynn was probably moments away from death, and here she was shaking in her boots like a cowardly child. The familiar metallic tang of blood wafted through the air making her stomach churn in fear. Warily, she moved toward the centre of the room.

She had to get to Lynn.

Rosie willed her legs into motion, wincing as her boots met the dense layer of gravel below – moving silently was almost impossible.

"Breathe Rosie" She whispered to herself as she stared forward into the dark void.

Calm, cool and collected, she needed to channel her inner Gryffindor.  
Calmly she took another few steps forward, ignoring the way the darkness made the room feel impossibly small. Coolly, she bent to the ground, moving forward on all fours as she tried to feel for Lynn's form. She was listening for her shallow breath, like a macabre game of Marco Polo.  
Cool air filled her lungs as she closed her eyes for a moment, she'd need to collect herself before she could be of any help to Lynn.

"Breathe, you can do th-" Suddenly, A large hand grasped her long hair, fisting it so tightly she was sure it would rip out of her scalp.

"L-Let go of me!" She cried as another grubby hand closed around her arm, forcing her forward.

A deafening crack resounded through the area, followed by a muffled scream. Her hip and shoulder collided with the ground causing broken glass to embed itself in the exposed skin, her scalp was on fire, burning with an intense pain as she heard a mocking laugh and was pulled up once more, only to be slammed against the jagged, rocky wall of the cavern.

"N…No, please"

The hand loosened from her hair, reaching for her throat instead. With as much force as she could muster she brought her knee up, aiming for an undoubtedly sensitive region. A rough hand gripped it before it could reach its target, pushing it back down with unnecessary force.

"Think you're clever girly?" Though she could see nothing but darkness, she could basically hear the sneer in his voice. A warm, foul breath met her cheek, causing a shiver of revulsion to wrack through her body.

"I've been watching you, such a pretty little bitch, aren't you?" She was sure she was turning blue. She tried to speak, to spit in his face, to do anything really, but she struggled under the immense force pushing on her windpipe.

His fingers tightened around the slim column of her neck as she felt a large hand raise up to her hip, pushing the tattered fabric up before he gripped her there painfully.

"Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong"

"No…I…Please" The words came out as a hoarse whisper, between the persistent shroud of darkness and the lack of oxygen she wasn't sure what was going on anymore, perhaps she had already slipped into the depths of unconsciousness?

The hand on her hip loosened and trailed up her torso, a newfound terror gripped Rosie's very core as she felt it rise, stopping just short of its destination.  
He pressed into her further, pushing his crotch into her. A sob wracked through her as she kicked her legs out violently. "S-Stop!"

She was going to die. It didn't seem real, it couldn't be.

Goosebumps rose on her skin as the cool air of the room met her exposed skin. The man gripped her hair once more, slamming it into the wall. She felt almost numb now. Tired.

BANG BANG BANG.

Rosie's head lulled to the side as she vaguely registered some noise. The man's hand froze just shy of her bra. "Looks like it's your lucky day sweetheart" He sniggered.

"Lynn?" A deep voice called out.

She felt a tingle of magic in the air as she was dropped from a substantial height to the rocky ground below. Her head bounced upon impact like a basketball.

She had to get to Lynn.

With every ounce of her strength, she scrambled across the floor. Blood from her grazed knee trailed behind her as she moved forward. She was so focused on her target she barely registered the soft knocking on the door.

Light suddenly swarmed the room, causing her to cry out in pain, her eyes rebelled against her, fluttering shut once again.

"FUCK" Someone said as they rushed down next to her.

Pain shot up her wrist as she tried to push herself forward. She had to get to Lynn.

"Rosie? Rosie, can you hear me?" A warm hand reached for her cheek in an effort to turn her head. She thought she could see Lynn's form just ahead of her…if she could just find her wand.

A fresh wave of pain radiated through her body as she felt a sharp piece of glass embed itself in her thigh. She cried out in pain.

"I just need to g-" She blinked as a rivulet of blood dropped down her face from her scalp, she gingerly rose a hand to her head, blinking in confusion as she noted the crimson liquid on her fingers.

"Rosie" She looked up into blue eyes. Charlie? His eyebrows were creased together in concern as he took in her appearance, maybe she was more injured than she'd thought.

She tried to focus on his lips, she could see them moving but it felt as if her head was being held underwater – His face danced across her vision, fading in and out of focus and his voice sounded muffled and faraway.

With one final push toward Lynn her body succumbed to the darkness it'd been evading for so long. A blissful weightlessness overcame her as her troubled mind was finally put to rest.

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 **Review!...Please :)**


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